Not since World War II have there been so many refugees in the world. Many unaccompanied children and youths come to Malmö every day. The need of housing and other support increases constantly. Together with the City of Malmö and Ensamkommandes förbund (an organization for unaccompanied youths) we want to inform you about how you can become a foster home or sponsor.

To be a foster home for an unaccompanied child means that you care for a child or young person in your home. You can also do this during a shorter period of time until the child gets a more long term living accommodation.

The purpose of Ensamkommande förbund is to make the voices of unaccompanied youths heard and to function as a social network. Through their sponsorship you get to have regular contact with one youth to support and strengthen them in their every day lives.

On the 26th of November at 12-1 p.m. we have invited Familjehemssektionen, the City of Malmö, and Ensamkommandes förbund to the Student Union, Bassängkajen 8, for a lecture about the different assignments. This is an opportunity to get information, ask questions and notify further interest. Hope to see you there!

(Please note: The event will be in Swedish and to become a foster home or sponsor you need to be able to speak Swedish.)

With creating a Language Café, connected to the Malmö University for Refugees initiative, we want to create a space – especially but not exclusively – for newly arrived refugees and refugees waiting for their residence permit to learn and practice Swedish and English in an academic environment. Thereby we want to be the bridge to academic world in particular but also the society in general.

Currently we are in great need of volunteers, who would like to participate in the Language Café and therefore are we looking especially for Swedish speakers but of course also people speaking other languages are warmly welcomed.

The dentist Palwasha Momand at the Faculty of Odontolgy at Malmö University got 50.000 toothbrushes from Tepe to hand out to newly arrived refugees. Together with students she will shed light on dental health for refugees. Please read more here (in Swedish).

If you are interested in volunteering to hand out toothbrushes to refugees, please come to the weekly meeting tomorrow 22/10 at the Student Union at 12-13, Or Contact Palwasha directly.

On floor 3 of Niagara there will be represenatives from the different actions under the parole Malmö University for Refugees. Donate to the fundraiser and get a hand made bracelet, sign up for the language cafè or get engagaged in a charity concert that’s being planned. You can also suggest new initiatives or reach out to engaged people with a project you’re already evolved in. It’s up to all of us to fill the initiative with action!

We have been contacted by Petter, a former Malmö student now working at IBM. He encourage all students at Malmö University, and especially those interested in the initiative Malmö University for Refugees, to take part in the hacketon “Open hack” in early December. Petter and a colleague from IBM will come to the Thursday meeting this coming week (8/10) to present the idea and to answer questions. You don’t have to be a programmer or an expert in open source solutions to join – you might be the one with an idea, or expertise or experience from the target group (for example refugees).

We encourage everyone to come up with ideas and solutions that focus on solving humanitarian issues. At the Hackathon there will be at least two established Open Source projects represented. Both projects will bring expertise and knowledge in forms of personal, support and inspiration. If you have ideas for contribution to these, they will be more that happy to listen to you. But it’s completely up to you whether you want to hack using these projects or some other Open Source projects.

So welcome on Thursday to the Student Union Building at 12 to learn more! Bring a friend!

Every Thursday at 12-13 everyone is welcome to the Student Union Building to move forward with initiatives. The text below is copied from Mari’s post in the FB-group:

Sum up of this week’s meeting: There were A LOT of great ideas and discussions! Nonetheless, we decided it would be better to start off with just a few projects, and then grow from there. The 4 initiatives that we decided to work with are:
* Work with minors: This group of people will focus on organizing activities, projects, etc, that are focused on helping refugee minors. If you are interested in being part of this work contact Marzia Mattes at marziamattes@gmx.ch

* Work with women: This group of people will focus on organizing activities, projects, initiatives that will focus on helping refugee women on the different challenges that they may face in Sweden. If you are interested in being part of this work contact Sofia Kristoffersen at aifoskri@gmail.com

* Language Cafe: This group of people will focus on organizing a weekly language cafe for refugees, where students can teach swedish/english to refugees on a volunteer basis. If you are interested in being part of this work contact Marisol Pérez at marisoconnor@gmail.com

* Rights and Frequently Asked Questions: This group of people will focus on arranging a “frequently asked questions” document for refugees in which they/we can find information about their rights and possibilities in Sweden. This will be a document that we can look back to when we are asked questions, in order to ensure we give them the right information, as there is a lot of incorrect information being spread out. This work will require a lot of research and also cooperation with legal entities in Malmö/Sweden. If you are interested in being part of this work contact: Paul Hattig at paul.pauli94@gmx.de

So, let’s get this work started people! If you want to be part of more than one group feel free to do it as long as your time allows it!